Hiring in the Age of Big Data

Wasabi Waiter looks a lot like hundreds of other simple online games. Players acting as sushi servers track the moods of their customers, deliver them dishes that correspond to those emotions, and clear plates while tending to incoming patrons. Unlike most games, though, Wasabi Waiter analyzes every millisecond of player behavior, measuring conscientiousness, emotion recognition, and other attributes that academic studies show correlate with job performance. The game, designed by startup Knack.it, then scores each player’s likelihood of becoming an outstanding employee.

Knack is one of a handful of startups adapting big data metrics to hiring. The companies are pitching online games and questionnaires to corporate recruiters frustrated by the disconnect between a good interview and an ideal employee. Based on records of how star workers responded to the same tests, these services predict whether a candidate will be suited for a particular job. Clients use the tool to help winnow piles of applications. “People are our biggest resource, and right now a lot of them are mismatched,” says Erik Brynjolfsson, an adviser to Knack and director of the Center for Digital Business at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management.